A Precious Cargo?

Posted on Fri Apr 19th, 2013 @ 3:06am by Fleet Admiral Sevlek

1,239 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Mission 82 - The Aggressor
Location: Earth/U.S.S. Gladiator/Starbase 400
Timeline: Concurrent

Andrenicus stood outside the President's office doors and wait the six seconds before he was admitted inside. He walked to the desk and as he came to a stop and stood at attention said, "Mister President, sir. You requested my presence."

The man looked half asleep, which he probably was, it was only 0500 hours. "Damnit man. Relax, at ease and any other damn thing I need to say to get you to stop giving me a headache with your wide eyed appeared at five in the morning."

David smiled, "Sorry, sir. Habit." He also noticed the other person in the room now, sitting at the dining table with food in front of him. It was hard to tell, but from where he was, the individual looked to be about 6'1" and of a lean and muscular build. Blue eyes and blond hair.

The president caught the glance and said, "The reason you're here, Colonel Andrenicus." At this queue the other man stood and approached to stand next to the Federation President, "Allow me to introduce my son, "Lieutenant Commander Slade Matthews, Jr." The older man looked at his son for a brief second then continued, "He's just returned from a field assignment given to him my Admiral Sevlek. I abused my authority and had him report to me before reporting to the Admiral. I'm sure Ears will find the action illogical and all that jazz, but he did send my son on an assignment knowing exactly who he was."

The younger man stepped forward and extended his hand, "Colonel, it is an honor to meet you. I've heard many good things about you and your service to the Federation and Admiral Sevlek."

Andrenicus wasn't surprised the young man knew information about him, he was afterall a member of Sevlek's intelligence gathering forces. And in his experience, all of Sevlek's people were amazingly proficient at their jobs. He took the man's hand, "Thank you, commander. The honor is mine." After a few seconds he looked to the president, "Am I to assume this is the cargo you wanted ferried to Starbase 400 before we departed?"

The elder Matthews smiled, "It is. Sorry about the secretive nature of it. I just wasn't sure if he'd listen to me and come here first."

The younger Matthews frowned, "You know damn well you sent me officially authorized orders with a presidential seal on them." He paused, "Which you can never do again, Dad."

"I know. You were gone for 9 months on that assignment and I missed you." The older man leaned against the front of the desk, "Either way, my son won't do a debrief here, his loyalty to Sevlek is impeccable and he won't talk to anyone but the Admiral."

David nodded, "That is to be expected." He checked the chronometer on the wall behind the President's desk. "Be aboard the Gladiator before 0730 hours, Commander. We depart for Starbase 400 then."

The younger Matthews brightened up, "The Gladiator is finished and launched? Excellent, I've been waiting to try out the new version of the slipstream drive myself."

David nodded as he turned to leave to return to the ship and prepare for departure.

*****U.S.S. Gladiator; 2 Hours 40 Minutes Later*****

David stepped on to the bridge of the Gladiator, followed closed by Commander Matthews. Zandusky smiled as he saw the younger man, "Slade, how the hell are you?"

Matthews also smiled widely when he saw the CO of the ship, "I'll be damned. Dan, you got the center seat of the Gladiator?" They embraced for a few moments and then relaxed into conversation.

David had known Daniel Zandusky for almost 8 months and in all that time, it always seemed like something was missing, some hole that was waiting for its filler. It looked like that filler was now present, the Captain smiled in a way he hadn't done since the first day Andrenicus met him. "I take it you know each other then?"

Slade looked at Daniel as the other looked at him and Captain Zandusky said, "Very well, since we've been in a relationship for 2 years." He paused, "Or do we have to start over since you were gone for 8 months?"

Matthews laughed, "Starting over could be fun."

Daniel sat in the center seat as Andrenicus sat in the XO's seat after being motioned to it by Zandusky. Matthews said, "I'm going to go get a couple hour of sleep."

The CO and Marine acknowledged the man's departure and Zandusky said, "Helm bring us to departure vector Alpha-1. Set course for Starbase 400 at maximum slipstream velocity."

The lieutenant at the helm responded, "Departure vector Alpha-1 reached. Course and speed set for Starbase 400."

Daniel looked at the viewscreen as he commanded the ship into the slipstream corridor.

*****Starbase 400; 3 Hours, 20 Minutes Later*****

The ship dropped from slipstream at a safe distance as it transmitted its authorization and verification codes. The Gladiator cruised into the Starbase's docking bay and once again, the ship was set to undergo reviews after completing only its fourth slipstream jump.

Andrenicus met Matthews at the airlock and acknowledged him with a nod and by saying, "Well rested, commander?"

Slade smirked, "Let's hope so, colonel. If not, I'll be exhausted when Sevlek is done with me."

David chuckled lightly, and is his best serious voice said, "Indeed you shall."

Both men laughed then, just as the docking port doors opened. They walked down the gantry together. After a minute or so, the men reached the egress of the gantry and went to the turbolift.

Andrenicus broke the silence as they boarded the lift, "Deck 4, secured office suite. Authorization, Andrenicus-2-2-1-Gamma."

The computer chirped its acknowledgement and the lift began moving. After a short trip, both men stepped off the turbolift and were greeted by security personnel, Slade looked to David, "He went all out for this one, didn't he?"

Andrenicus nodded as he spoke, "We're dealing with data that he will only let a handful of people possess. And even then it isn't all of the data. That PADD I took your father is only one of 3 that contains everything we've compiled so far."

Slade nodded. He spent 8 months travelling the Krazzle territories gathering information from all of the clans under the guise of a mercenary, a lot of the data was data he'd collected and then sent back via sub-space burst transmission.

After going through the security checkpoint and being cleared, both men entered the control center to find Sevlek standing at the central control table with holographic projections active and showing what appeared to be fleet movements.

David and Slade walked to the man and said, "Admiral, we brought back a hitchhiker from Earth."

Slade spoke now, "Admiral. Lt. Commander Slade Matthews, reporting as ordered."

After a few moments the Vulcan spoke, "But not before spending 10.2 hours on Earth."

Slade started to speak, but Sevlek cut him off, "I was not surprised your father used his authority to ensure a visit from his son. It was to be expected. However, now that you are here, are you prepared to be debriefed?"

Slade nodded, "Aye, sir. I have some things that you need to know. Pretty important things that I couldn't even consider transmitting in the burst messages."

Sevlek nodded to both men and motioned towards his office, "Then let us begin."

Sevlek, Andrenicus and Matthews all entered the office as the doors shut and the secret spilling began.

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